Hail Mary full of pain

Brandon Shroyer was not to be stopped, on offense or defense.

The Tualatin senior threw for 200 yards and three touchdowns and ran for a fourth at quarterback, then intercepted two passes as a defensive back in the Timberwolves' 47-21 defeat of McMinnville in Friday night's Class 6A Pacific Conference game at Wortman Stadium.

Grizzlies quarterback Gage Gubrud completed 16 of 27 passes for 236 yards, including touchdown passes to Darby Ramos and Grant Rubado. But Gubrud was intercpeted three times and lost one fumble.

Tualatin running back Eli Robinson had three touchdowns on the ground for the Timberwolves.

Tualatin (4-3 overall, 3-2 Pacific) opened the game with 21 straight points before McMinnville (4-3, 2-3 Pacific) rallied in the second quarter. Cristian Medina punched in a 3-yard touchdown run, while Ramos (five catches, 74 yards) caught a 28-yard touchdown pass from Gubrud.

The Timberwolves needed 35 yards to score on the final play of the first half, and Shroyer threw up a Hail Mary. The pass was tipped and then caught by Tualatin's Nick Hines in the end zone.

"We started out kind of flat and that was a little disappointing," McMinnville coach Robin Hill said. "I don't know how many tipped passes that they caught that we didn't get any of. We didn't have any breaks but we've got to create our own in some ways."

“They make very few mistakes,” Amity coach Jared Hinkle said, “and they capitalized on the mistakes that we made.”

Through the first half, the Warriors (2-3 overall, 1-2 Class 3A West Valley League) hung with their undefeated West Valley League rivals. They held the powerful Pirates offense to just 13 points and posted a touchdown of their own on a Brett Hilt pass to T.R. McShane.

In the second half, the Dayton offense started to roll. Connor Spivey led the Pirates rushing attack and finished the game with 15 carries for 118 yards. Quarterback Darren Ashley completed 14 of 23 passes for 136 yards and three touchdowns; two going to senior receiver Corwin Hiatt.

Defensively, Dayton keyed on Warriors quarterback Brett Hilt.

“He’s a good player,” Pirates coach Brodie Unger said, “We knew we had to keep him in the pocket so we created some sets designed to keep him in the box.”

After a 200-yard, three-touchdown performance in Amity’s last game, Hilt completed eight of 16 passes for 70 yards with a touchdown and an interception. The Dayton defense also stifled Hilt on the ground, holding him to just 50 yards on seven carries.

“(Hilt) is a catalyst for us,” Hinkle said after the game, “but they didn’t give him a lot to work with.”

With three minutes left, Dayton running back Tyler Clark took a hand-off and ran hard up the middle. Several Amity players were in on the tackle, but when the pile cleared after the play Warriors defensive lineman Jayson Taylor was still down. After 15 minutes, Taylor was taken off the field on a stretcher.